Match Report : 03/10/2015

3 October 2015

Town made the trip to Fratton Park to take on high flying Portsmouth and returned to Somerset with a hard fought point.

Manager Paul Sturrock welcomed back captain Ryan Dickson, who replaced Jake Howells on the left wing. Mark Beck, Jordan Gibbons and Max Melanson missed out with Marc Laid and Alex Lacey returning to the bench for the Glovers.

After a quiet opening twenty minutes where the home side enjoyed the majority of possession, Town began to find their feet and had the first chance of the game.

Josh Sheehan swung a corner from the Town right onto the head of Ryan Bird, but the striker’s goal bound header was well saved by the Portsmouth shot stopper Aaron McCarey.

Seconds later the Glovers should have opened the scoring when another Sheehan set piece was swung into the box. This time his cross found the head of Arthurworrey, but his header went wide of the target.

At the start of the second half the home side made their first substitute with Gareth Evans being replaved by striker Jayden Stockley. The change meant a change of formation with the home side reverting to a traditional 4-4-2.

On the hour mark the home side had a great chance to open the scoring, but substitute Stockley missed Tubbs’ cross altogether and Town managed to clear their lines.

The substitute had another good opportunity just moments later but his header at goal fell into the hands of Krysiak.

On 65 minutes Town were dealt what appeared to be another blow when defender Jakub Sokolik was forced off to be replaced by Howells. The change meant that Nathan Smith moved to centre back with Dickson moving to left back and Howells operating on the left wing.

With just over ten minutes remaining Sturrock introduced the returning Laird for Cornick.

In the last ten minutes the home side started to pile on the pressure but Town were holding firm. Two corners in quick succession saw Town clear away but on the second phase the ball fell to Doyle about 30 yards from goal - the Portsmouth captain’s shot was heading for the bottom corner if it wasn’t for a smart save from Krysiak.

Despite the home side throwing everything at the Glovers in the four minutes of added on time the back four held firm to secure a point.